Chennai: Seven senior students of the Christian Medical College, a famed missionary run institution in Vellore, have been suspended after a shocking video of fresher students being forced to strip and indulge in vulgar physical acts and being hit on testicles during a ragging session on campus went viral.
In the video, believed to have been shot from an aerial location last month, the boys can be seen made to walk / run on the vast campus in their underwear. In one segment, two boys can be seen forced to indulge in obscene physical acts. In another video, a senior was seen hitting two boys on their testicles, while juniors were asked to lie on a puddle and pretend as if they were indulging in a sexual act. The seniors also splashed water on the semi-stripped freshers using a fire hydrant.
Director Vikram Mathew says committee formed to probe incident
Considering that the ragging took place in broad daylight and in an open place on the campus, questions are being raised if the freshers were tortured in the presence of the hostel wardens and faculty members.
The incident, initially, came to light when an anonymous person detailed on Reddit, the kind of inhuman torture meted out to the juniors in the name of ragging. As such ragging is banned on campuses across the country and Tamil Nadu was a forerunner in banning ragging in 1997 after Pon Navarasu, a first year medico, the son of then University of Madras Vice Chancellor Ponnusamy, was killed and his body chopped to pieces by a senior John David in the Annamalai University.
Facing severe criticism for the ragging incident on the Christian Medical College campus, its director Vikram Mathew on Wednesday told journalists that a six-member committee has been set up to inquire the incident. He said seven senior students, most of them from MBBS third year, were suspended on Sunday after the college received an anonymous email about the ragging.
“The incident is under investigation and a report will be submitted by the special committee in the next few days. We don’t condone ragging in any form,” said Mathew.
